CASTRO: IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON

By: Alberto Luzárraga

Frankly it's about time to clean the attic in the Western Hemisphere.
Forty-one years of one man rule is quite enough. Consider the results. Twenty
per cent of the population exiled, abject poverty, a privileged ruling class,
and 17,000 documented firing squad executions. Not to mention the much larger
undocumented number of Castro induced killings through wars, revolutions,
attempts to escape, prison beatings, and disappeared persons. It has been
estimated that all this amounts to more than 100,000 dead, by far the
bloodiest tyranny in the Americas.

This tyrant excels only in one thing: Propaganda and creating the illusion
that Cuba is something else.

By now even that Potemkin Village image is pretty frayed. It takes a stretch
of the imagination not to accept the inevitable conclusion. Practically every
body in the world has gone to visit Castro and has "suggested" reforms and
ways of effecting a transition.

Results so far? More repression and a regime that has turned from socialist
to fascist as it grants investors the right to exploit Cubans by paying them
under market wages. And to compound insult to injury the Cuban government
keeps the lions share.

Can we imagine the hue and cry if Pinochet had let companies come into Chile
and hire Chileans through government "employment companies" which pay them a
pittance in pesos( $15.00 US is the average monthly salary in Cuba) while
collecting payment from the investor in dollars in the hundreds? And even
these rates are under market, because that is the way you get investors to
"cooperate".

Castro is the Enver Hoxha of the Americas. Hanging on to power and dreaming
of a totalitarian comeback. Some of his old allies seem to have yearnings as
well.

The New York Times in its 12/15/00 edition covers Mr. Putin's visit to Cuba.
Mr. Putin and Mr. Castro are quoted as follows:

"Mr. Castro and Mr. Putin found some common language in complaining about the
advent of a world dominated by the United States. Mr. Castro claimed
seniority in the struggle by asking, "Who knows better than the country
situated only 90 miles from the biggest superpower of the world?"

Mr. Putin, without mentioning the United States, agreed that such
"unipolarity" allows one country to "monopolize international relationships
and to dominate them." He said the last time this occurred, "we all know how
it ended," apparently a reference to Nazi Germany and World War II. "

According to the Black Book on Communism this system has caused 100 million
deaths in the twentieth century. And still one of this pair has the audacity
to obliquely compare the United States to Nazi Germany!

But it does not end here. Putin wants to consolidate his grip on his Cuban
outpost. The NYT continues:

"Mr. Putin also brought along his defense minister, Marshal Igor D. Sergeyev,
for discussions that appeared to be related to the degraded state of the
Cuban armed forces since Soviet advisers were withdrawn and spare parts for
Soviet equipment left in Cuba dried up.

Mr. Putin and Mr. Castro toured the secret intelligence base that Russia
inherited at Lourdes, outside Havana, where a huge array of antennas allows
Russian military technicians to monitor civilian and military communications
in the United States and Latin America. Russia still pays rent for the
facility with oil shipments, Western officials say.

Western journalists were barred from the tour."

The intent is clear and when related to the next item in the agenda, i.e. the
huge Cuban debt to the former Soviet Union the plot thickens. Putin wants to
consider "debt for asset" swaps and thus consolidate juicy deals for his new
coterie of KGB yuppies. His only problem is Castro and his yuppies. But they
will find way to come together and yet squeeze some more blood from the
suffering Cuban population. Here is what the NYT quotes from Putin:

"The Soviet Union has invested a lot in Cuba's economy. This is worth
billions of dollars, and we have to understand what to do about this."

And the article continues:

"[Russian] officials said Moscow had presented to Mr. Castro several
proposals for swapping Cuba's debt for Russian stakes in potentially
profitable Cuban enterprises in oil refining, nickel production and other
sectors.

But Cuban officials are looking for debt forgiveness"

At this point there is no more justification for congressional visits,
panels, proposals, deals etc. Castro is an enemy of the United States and
will always be one. His reach is extending now into Venezuela. His narco
connections are well documented. The security interests of the United States
require that US legislators look at this situation squarely in the face and
stop pretending that it can be fixed. That path has already been tried . We
should not be talking about ending the embargo but about ending Castro.

And this does not mean, as some Castro lovers will soon jump to point out a
US invasion or anything of the sort. For starters the simple statement that
enough is enough when expressed clearly to our trading partners and allies
will have an incredible effect for change inside Cuba. Many young people in
the government (there is only one employer) are desperate for a change that
will allow them to live normal lives but find no outside support. Their only
hope is an exit visa. But if they saw a glimmer of hope things would be
different. The realization that living a better life in Cuba, without having
to emigrate, is attainable in the short term, will be a potent tonic for
dissent.

One cannot underestimate the power of the United States if it begins a
concerted campaign to tell the world the truth about Castro in a persistent
and open way. The simple quoting of Cuba's Kafkian legislation will be most
revealing.

The problem right now is that the governing elite is just too comfortable. It
has enjoyed too many years of sweetness and light which it used to threaten
with dire consequences if it does not continue in power.

What are the consequences? Well a boat exodus of course. It's the perfect
argument for continued tyranny. Let me hang on or I will create a problem. It
is an insult to the honor and traditions of the United States and false
argument. Given a chance the Cuban people will turn Cuba into what it was
before Castro: a very prosperous country.

No other exile group has had so much success in the United States in so short
a period of time. We are an entrepreneurial and active people. There are more
where we came from. We have the capital and knowledge to make it work.

So what are we afraid of? Fellow Americans: Let us rise to the challenge and
tell the only tyrant in the Western Hemisphere:

MOVE ON FIDEL

Let the new generation of Cubans, Cuban Americans and honorable American
investors turn Cuba into what it should be. A prosperous neighbor and a
reliable ally of the United States.